Sony has ceased shipments of the Playstation TV within Japan according to an article by Dualshockers.
The entry for the product on the Japanese Playstation website now has the label "出荷完了" which translates to "end of shipments" or "shipment completion". This is tantamount to a discontinuation of the product in the country.
Sales figures by Media Create from January 3, 2016 stated that the Playstation TV had moved 185,452 units in Japan since its launch in November 2013. The cessation of new shipments does not mean that the product is no longer available as there are still units available for purchase in stores and there is always the secondhand market to consider as well.
The Playstation TV (known as the Playstation Vita TV in Japan) is a standalone unit that allows you to play Vita games on a television. The Playstation TV's greatest difficulty though was a lack of compatibility with many games as of the 1,196 titles released in the US for the Vita only 209 were compatible with the Playstation TV giving US titles a compatibility rate of just under 17.5%. A large part of the reason for this was likely because the Playstation TV made use of the wirless DualShock 3 controller for an input method. However, the PS Vita has a touch screen and a rear touchpad which couldn't be emulated by a Dualshock 3. This difference in input capabilities necessitated additional coding for PS Vita games to be compatible with the Playstation TV.
There's not yet any word as to whether or not the product will be cancelled in Western markets as well.
Quick Take
The Playstation TV's lack of compatability with over 80% of PS Vita games in the US speaks to poor planning on Sony's part. If we use the US numbers as a barometer, it's not really a surprise that the console didn't do well when it only has access to 1/5th of the library of the PS Vita. The requirement for additional programming to work around core input methods of the handheld was likely a cost that most developers didn't feel was worthwhile. Sony probably ought to have mandated support for the Playstation TV as a requirement for licensing to prevent this situation from happening.
Do you own a Playstation TV? Do you think it was wise for Sony to not mandate Playstation TV support for PS Vita titles? What do you think this means for the Playstation TV and Vita going forward? Let us know in the comments below!
